


The Umiak

by tullyblue12



Series: What the Spirits Know [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:35:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25522966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tullyblue12/pseuds/tullyblue12
Summary: Katara escorts the prisoner, Prince Zuko, to the South Pole.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: What the Spirits Know [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1848556
Comments: 35
Kudos: 188





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I am so excited that I expanded The Healing Hut universe. This is going to be fun (the angsty kind). I hope you enjoy!

She watches him assess the humble umiak that will transport them to the South Pole. He scans over the vessel skeptically. He must already be plotting his escape. 

“Not what you’re used to,” she remarks upon their departure, securing his chains to the boat's supporting planks. 

“I’ll adjust,” he quips. 

She grips her oar tighter. 

* * *

She’s the only one propelling the ship. There’s no sail to help her. She uses her bending for a lot of it, but he can see how exhausting it is for her on her own. When she reaches her capacity for waterbending them through the sea, she uses the oars, though it’s still tiring. Sometimes she just lets them drift. 

“How many people usually man this?” he asks out of curiosity. Though it’s a small vessel compared to the empire-class Fire Nation warships he’s used to, he can tell it’s too large to be left in the sole command of one person. 

His question obviously catches her off guard. She hesitates to answer. “This one was built for fifteen. Others are larger.” 

“No sail.”

“No,” she replies pugnaciously. 

“No need to get testy. Just making an observation.”

“Why?”

“I know a thing or two about ships.” 

“Not this one.” 

“It’s not exactly difficult to figure out, especially with how primitive the design is.”

She bristles. “This is the design of the Northern Water Tribe. In the South, the ships are different. Southern ships __ have sails.”

At night, he watches her treat the blisters on her hands. She’ll have fresh ones tomorrow. It’s still a long, long way to the South Pole. 

“You should let me help you row,” he tells her one night from his cramped seat, shackled to the planks he's memorized by now. He can't try to break the planks. They're a supporting structure to the boat. He'll sink them, and then he'll drown. 

She laughs at him. “I’m not that stupid, Prince Zuko.” 

“You are. You think you can get us all the way to the other side of the world by yourself? I haven’t even seen you look at a map once.” 

“I know what I’m doing,” she huffs at him. 

“You could be heading straight to a Fire Nation patrol.” 

“And if I am, you’ll be in more trouble than me. Now shut up. I’ve made this trip before.” 

Still, he sees her consult a map the next morning. It seems he’s able to affect her, even in small ways. 

It isn’t an exciting trip. There isn’t much to look at, besides Katara, and the sea, the floor, and the sky. During the day, he observes Katara. He learns everything he can about this odd opponent of his, from the two necklaces she wears to the foot she leans into for her bending stances. During the cool nights, when the moon’s influence on the tides pulls them, he studies the stars. 

“We’re going east,” he realizes gravely. 

“Of course we are. There aren’t any Fire Nation patrols in the Eastern Sea.”

“Because it’s the least navigable sea in the whole world!” he exclaims. “You think you can cross it in this?”

She bends a large wave to surge them forward, as if to answer him. “I happen to have an advantage,” she reminds him, forming another wave. 

“Save your strength,” he cautions. This isn’t even the most dangerous part of the sea. Further south, the winds pick up, and the currents converge to produce waves strong enough to overturn warships. She’ll need her bending then. 

“I could always help you row,” he offers again.

A stern glare is her only reply. 

  
  


* * *

“You were nicer to me when I was unconscious.”

_ Of course I was _ , she thinks to herself. He had looked so pitiful then, thrown against the wall of the spirit oasis. His skin was scorched from Zhao’s fire, and underneath laid the broken bones she never thought she could heal. He is the breathing manifestation of her ability. The greatest work she’s ever done as a healer, all for Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation. 

Now that he’s healed, he’s dangerous. There’s no room for niceties between them. 

“You remember that?” she asks instead.

“Parts of it.”

“Do you remember when it happened?” she wonders, thinking that perhaps the concussion would erase the preceding moments from his memory. She doesn’t know why she wants to spare him that pain. He doesn’t deserve any more of herself than she’s already given, but she hopes he doesn’t remember. The pain would have been unimaginable.

“Yes,” he admits, gazing out at the sea, shivering either from the cold or the thought. 

For the first time since his awakening, she pities him.

* * *

He remembers how attentive she was during it all. He remembers how she had been afraid to leave him alone. The compassion is natural to her, he learns. Though she’s hostile when she speaks to him, there is no mistaking her character for anything else as she spoon feeds his meals and holds a skin of fresh water to his lips. If it wasn’t her, he’d refuse. But there’s no use in holding onto his pride, not with her. She’s already revived him from the edge of death. She’s shifted his bones with her own hands. She's spurred his skin to grow anew. She's pushed broth past his lips and supported his weight as he built strength back in his legs. 

He wonders why she’s so intent on keeping him alive. 

* * *

They run into a storm. The winds pick up the way Prince Zuko warned. Cold rain pelts them without respite. As confident as she’d been before, in truth this isn't the way she traveled North with Sokka. Their trip north involved several stops along coastal cities to gather supplies, and a lot of the traveling was done on foot. She hadn’t been a master waterbender then. She hadn’t known the spirits that fueled her element. 

She dissolves a large wave heading towards them, only for the wind to turn them over. She's thrown from the umiak, gasping for air in the freezing water. She opens her eyes in the sea, searching for Zuko. If she can't find him, he'll drown. He's still chained to the umiak. She swims to him as fast as she can, as the waves crash over top of them. She bends a bubble around them so they can breathe. There’s no use resurfacing now. They’ll be thrown back under if they try.

But the water is so cold. She hopes the storm passes quickly, before the hypothermia sets in. 

Zuko exhales. His breath is warm. An idea occurs to her then. She dissolves the bubble long enough to slice through Zuko’s shackles before restoring their air supply. Zuko looks at her in surprise, but then she grabs on to him, wrapping her arms around his middle and encouraging him to do the same. 

He catches on. His inner fire keeps them warm until the storm passes.

* * *

She doesn’t reshackle him. He knows she doesn’t have anything to shackle him with, but she could always use rope to tie him if she wanted to. When the sea calms, and they resurface, they turn the umiak back over. Katara climbs in first and bends any lingering water from the inside, while Zuko floats, holding onto the side. 

She pulls him in. He waits for the restraints. They never come. 

“Help me row,” she says.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm a little guilty for working on this instead of posting my Zutara week story on time. That will be completed soon, though! Promise! After all, every week's Zutara week. Hope you enjoy the conclusion of this piece!

He feeds himself. He helps her row. But he isn’t stupid enough to believe that means she’s starting to trust him. He can feel her eyes on him at night as the umiak rocks along the sea. The neverending sea.

“You could have let me drown,” he says to her one night when the silence between them is enough to drive him mad. Sometimes he thinks he’s imagining it all - the burns, the healing hut, _Katara_ \- because men are known to go mad at sea. It’s one thing to travel the waters as an esteemed up-and-coming admiral aboard an empire-class warship; it’s another entirely to cross the world in this little boat at the mercy of the ocean spirit and an angry waterbender.

Her eyes cut to his across the umiak, glaring blue in the moonlight. “You could have let me freeze.”

“You could have let me die long before,” he returns. 

“I could’ve.”

“You should have.” 

“You think you can get off so easy? No, you’ll answer for your crimes.”

“And what crimes are those exactly?” 

She crosses her arms and returns to her silence, but her fingers reach for the pendants at her throat. 

They develop a system to weather the storms. He takes command of the umiak while she directs all her energy to suppressing the surging waves. She calls directions to him every once in a while, though it’s hard to hear over the soaring winds and roaring thunder. 

The first time he leads them through she remarks that she’d been surprised by his skill. “I’ve been on a ship since I was thirteen,” he reveals. 

“Is that common for the Fire Nation?”

“No.”

It had been his uncle’s suggestion actually, to allow Zuko to enter the Navy. His father agreed, though boys weren’t conscripted until the age of sixteen. To the surprise of everyone, Zuko had taken naturally to it. For once, Ozai’s weak son excelled in something. He earned medals, praise, the seat at his father’s right, a betrothal to the daughter of a respected governor. All of it, all of the honor he craved, is gone now.

The second time he leads them through, he reveals something else about himself. Lightning strikes above them. He can feel the pure power of it sparking the chi flowing inside him. He can feel exactly where the lightning will strike. It’s how he can feel the single bolt heading straight for their boat. He quickly throws his oar to the side and assumes his stance, the way his Uncle taught him. 

He can tell Katara’s about to shout at him, probably to demand what the hell he’s doing, but then the lightning comes and he feels it enter his body through one arm. He expels it through the other, right back into the sky, never letting it pass through the heart. The ensuing thunder is deafening.

When the storm passes, Katara sags to the floor of the umiak. They’re both soaked and exhausted. “What was that?” she asks between breaths.

“I redirected the lightning.”

“Do most firebenders know how to do that?”

“No. It’s actually a move adapted from waterbending.” Katara’s eyes widen. “That’s what my uncle told me anyways.” 

She scoffs. “Is there anything you  _ haven’t _ stolen from us?”

* * *

Every day feels longer than the last. According to her calculations, they can arrive in the South Pole in just four more days if the weather holds up. She can’t take much more of this. They’re running out of dried meats and preserved stews, and already they have to purify their own drinking water. She originally thought they’d be able to arrive a week earlier. That had been the best case scenario, which is not the scenario they find themselves in.

It feels even longer when Zuko tries to talk to her. She's content enough with her own thoughts. “So the only waterbender born in generations,” he comments. “You must have thought you were the Avatar.”

“No, I thought I was a waterbender.”

“Have you ever considered the possibility?”

“No.”

“It must have occurred to you.”

“It didn’t. For your information, they test every child in the tribes. It doesn't matter anyways. The Avatar Cycle was destroyed thanks to you.”

“Me? I don’t recall being a hundred years old.”

She stops rowing and considers beating him with the oar instead. “It doesn’t matter who did it first! Your family’s responsible for the destruction of the entire world!”

“Do you think imprisoning me for the rest of my life is going to atone for that?” 

She laughs at him. “I wouldn’t be protesting your life sentence if I were you. From what I hear, your father would rather execute you.”

“Of course he would. I dishonored him.” 

She laughs again. He probably thinks she’s going mad, but she can’t help but laugh at the cruel joke of the spirits. Isn’t it just divine that the reason his father wants to kill him is the reason she saved his life?

“I’m thirsty.”

“You’ve had your share for the day,” she says. 

“I’m. Thirsty,” he repeats. 

“Is that supposed to scare me, Prince Zuko?” 

“You wouldn’t even have drinking water without me!” he shouts, standing straight up. While it’s true that he heats the seawater to its boiling point, she’s the one who collects the purified vapors. She controls how much water he gets each day. He’s her prisoner. She’s already given him too many liberties. 

She bends a water whip to smack him across the face. It just makes him angrier. She sees his face curl into a snarl and he mirrors her move, creating a fire whip. He purposefully misses her. He’s trying to send a message. 

She’ll send one right back. She extends an arm in front of her and feels for the pull of his heart. She probes the veins carrying the viscous blood throughout his body. If he wants to threaten her, he has to be prepared to become a weapon against himself. His heart’s pumping so fast. She focuses on it. She squeezes. 

The prince collapses where he stands. When she lets go of her hold on his heart, he’s breathing heavily, moaning in pain, staring at her in shock. 

“Hmm. I guess you can have a little more water,” she acquiesces now that her point has been made. 

* * *

He’s thought about overpowering her a thousand times, but even if he could, there is nowhere for him to go. Now that she’s revealed this powerful bending he never knew existed, he realizes he never could have taken over the umiak. This must be why she hadn’t needed guards either. She must be the most powerful waterbender in the world. Lucky him. 

He’s thought about dying too. He’s thought about jumping overboard and letting the sea claim him, but that would be suicide. Ending his own life would atone for his shame in the eyes of his family, but he can’t bring himself to feel ashamed for killing Zhao. He’s ashamed of his status as a traitor. He’s ashamed to be a prisoner of the Southern Water Tribe. But he doesn’t feel shame for the event that caused it. If he jumped overboard, he would admit that he regretted his actions. He doesn't. 

Not that it matters. He doubts Katara would even let him drown. 

* * *

She thinks this will be their last day in the umiak. They’ll arrive at the South Pole in no time. Already she feels comforted just to be in the waters of her home. She twirls the pendants of her necklaces between her fingers, a contented smile blooming across her face. She’s quick to hide it from Zuko. She doesn’t want her prisoner to catch her soft expression. After all her years away from home, she has to admit that _he’s_ the reason she’s finally able to return. He’s the reason for a lot of things. 

* * *

She only had one necklace when she healed him. The one clasped around her throat, with the emblem of the water tribes carved into the stone. He never saw her with the second one until the day of her departure. The second is an ivory locket that rests against the hollow of her throat. He’s never seen her open it, but she holds it a lot during the night. The few times he catches her resting, her fingers are always curled around the locket. He's made it his mission to observe everything about her. 

As much as she tries to hide it, he can see how excited she is when they finally spy land. “We’re almost there,” she says breathlessly, like she can’t believe her own eyes. Her bending speeds up to the point where his rowing isn’t even helping propel them forward. 

In all his sea tours, he’s never roamed the sea down here. His nation’s interest in the South Pole ended long before he was born. He stops rowing altogether and lays against the floor of the boat, awaiting his arrival in this unknown land. He'll be tried here, sentenced for his supposed crimes. 

It goes without saying that Katara is much more excited to land than he is. 


End file.
